Sakura's lament
by KHwhitelion
Summary: After all, what could she say to the boy? ‘Hey Sasuke, sorry for not telling you earlier but my dad's Orochimaru and he wants to take over your body' no. definetly not. SasuSaku one-sided.


He thought _he _had his share of troubles? Ha. Compared to everything _she'd_ been through, it seemed like his misfortunes were a walk in the park. Losing everything, everyone. Sure it hurt-if it didn't, something would be wrong….but when she reflected on her own life, she was eager to trade places with him. With a boy who witnessed his entire family torn apart. It sounded crazy, and had she told anyone this, they most likely would have sent her away for mental treatment immediately. No one wishes for that. But she did.

Even though she wasn't in a particularly good mood, a half-smile inched its way from one corner of her mouth, reminding her even further of the dark secrets she kept hidden in her heart. Ha. What heart? After everything she'd done, did a being such as herself even possess such a thing? Maybe, yes. But certainly not one held high on human standards. She sighed, folding her arms over her chest, casting wary glances around the room with her aqua-green eyes. Correction: _her _eye color was much darker, much more sinister, though anyone looking at her wouldn't be able to tell. In fact, they wouldn't be able to tell _anything _about her. No one in the entire village knew who she _really_ was-and no one knew what she had come here to _do_. If they had, her life would have ended a long time ago.

She scowled, narrowing her slender pink eyebrows. 'Pink eyebrows.' Who even _had _that hair color? Was it even natural? She shook her head, closing her eyes, knowing the answer. No. No it wasn't. Not even for _her_.

She heard something from behind her then, and her eyes started to water. He was _here._ Just like she'd known he would be. Her body froze, and she drew in a breath, waiting to see if he'd notice her; waiting to see if he'd acknowledge her existence. But he didn't. He, like her, said nothing, keeping his eyes straight ahead-pretending she wasn't even there. She wanted to say something to him-that's what she had come here to do, after all-but her voice caught in her throat. It wasn't because she was shy, or afraid….but because she didn't know _what _to say. After all, what _could_ she say to the boy?_ 'Hey __Sasuke__, sorry__ for not telling you earlier but my dad's __Orochimaru__ and he's gonna take over your body_?' No. No. Definetly not.

She continued to stand there, listening vaguely to the rhythmic motion of his footsteps across the paved road, still wrapped up in her own thoughts. She shouldn't even be doing this, after all-it wasn't part of the plan. _The plan_. That cursed scheme devised by her cursed father to entice a poor little boy looking for revenge. It wouldn't have been so bad, had she not been part of it. How many years ago was it? When that fool of a father put her, still a young child, in the middle of Konoha, instructing her in what she was to do, and then just _leaving_ her there? She couldn't have been more than four years old-so young and confused. She knew, if it hadn't been for the genjutsu cast upon her, _no one _would have come running when she had started to cry. And no one would have taken her in.

It made her sad, when she thought about it now; how all those years, she kept hidden such a large secret from her foster parents, parents who, she preferred much more over her biological father. But then again, it hadn't always been that way. For most of her life, she had grown up living under a _mask_; the girl people saw and admired on the outside wasn't really the same girl on the inside. But it _was _the one she wanted to be. She _wanted_ to be that overly peppy, enthusiastic girl,she _wanted _to be the extremely girly child who fought for a boy with her friends-she wanted all that….but never was. Perhaps that was why, as a youngster, she was so shy and close to herself-because of the mission she had been entrusted with, and the threat of _death_ if she failed. It made her so nervous she could hardly talk. Not to mention people had started picking on her. So she had a high forehead, so what? Ha. That's what she said now, but without the help of a certain outspoken blond-haired girl, she'd still probably be subject to teasing. Of course, if her stupid father had just _stayed with _her the entire time, she'd already be far stronger than any of the genin her age. And _no one _would have ever called her 'billboard brow.'

Tuned in a little more than before, she began to listen, wondering just how far he was going to tread before he finally decided to turn around. Or before she was forced to say something. After all, unbeknownst to him, she was risking her life by just _standing_ here, let alone coming to stop him from leaving. She wanted to cry at her own foolishness-as previously noted, this _wasn't _part of the plan. She wasn't supposed to be out here, to stop the one boy she and her father had worked so hard to persuade-to ensnare him into their trap like a spider does a fly. But then again, she hadn't counted on falling in love with him, either.

When was it, she wondered, that her face would heat up whenever he was around? Or the way her heart soared every time he spoke, even if it was only a single word? She didn't know; trailing after him for so long, she _couldn't _know just when her feelings for him started. But one thing was certain-it was far after she had been assigned to his same squad. Though it had been a coincidence, she remembered thinking how lucky she was-with the boy on her team, leading him over to Orochimaru would be much easier. Which was why she had originally _pretended_ to like him: she thought maybe, just maybe, he'd return her 'feelings' and then she'd have no trouble persuading him at all. The problem was, he just wasn't into romance. And _that _bothered her to no end. All those times she tried 'flirting' with him, he'd just give her the cold shoulder-saying things like "You're annoying" or "You make me sick." It got to the point where she was ready to kill him herself if he said anything like that to her again. She had worked so hard to get where she was-second in her class next to _him_, long, rose-colored hair that she made sure to watch and condition everyday-just about everything she could think of to impress a boy. And it worked too, but not on Sasuke. The other boy in their squad, Uzumaki Naruto, had developed a crush on her; one that made her skin crawl just thinking about it. She hadn't wanted either of them at the time, and to this day, Naruto _still _got on her nerves. But Sasuke…._Sasuke_….

She shook her head, trying to fight back the tears she knew were coming. All those times working alongside him, all those times she laughed through his insults, all those times she protected him….Suddenly, she remembered. It _was _protecting him that had brought on her feelings. During the chunin exams, when their squad had been attacked by….again she furrowed her brow, realizing the awful truth of the matter. They were attacked by her _father_. That stupid, power-hungry bastard just couldn't wait long enough for power, so he _had_ to brand Sasuke with a curse mark. And one similar to her own as well. _That_ made her furious. If he could get his hands on the boy so easily, then why did he abandon her all those years ago? It didn't make sense. Just like everything else.

She sighed again, finally dropping her arms, and took a deep breath. It all came down to this now, huh? If she couldn't stop the boy she loved, then not only would _her _life come to an end, but Sasuke's as well. Clenching her hands into fists, she exhaled her held breath, and turned around.


End file.
